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Elaine Tuttle Hansen
Overview
Elaine Tuttle Hansen is a scholar of medieval English literature who served as Assistant Professor of English at Hamilton College from 1978 to approximately 1980. She holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, an A.M. from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. At Hamilton she taught medieval literature courses including Chaucer, Old English, and courses on women in literature and the British and American ballad tradition. She later became Dean of Haverford College and continued her scholarly career in medieval and feminist literary studies.
Relevance to Research
Hansen appears in the 1978–79 and 1979–80 catalogs as a full member of Hamilton’s English Department faculty, where she is listed alongside notable colleagues including Eve K. Sedgwick and Austin Briggs. She is prominently featured in the Spectator during 1979–80 as an organizer and advocate for literary events on campus. She introduced author Tillie Olsen at a major reading in October 1979, and co-led a discussion on women in literature in February 1979. The May 1980 Spectator notes her departure from Hamilton as part of a cohort of faculty leaving at the end of the academic year.
Notes
- Appointed to the Hamilton English Department in 1978 (year of appointment listed in catalogs as 1978)
- Academic credentials: A.B., Mount Holyoke College; A.M., University of Minnesota; Ph.D., University of Washington
- Courses taught at Hamilton included: Chaucer (Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, minor poems); Women and Literature (feminist criticism, women in fiction); The Tradition of the British and American Ballad; and Reading Poetry
- Co-led a February 1979 discussion on women in literature with Professor Nancy Rabinowitz, addressing works by Jane Austen, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Drabble, Tillie Olsen, Grace Paley, and Rita Mae Brown
- Introduced Tillie Olsen at a reading in the Red Pit, October 11, 1979; thanked by students for making the visit “spiritually possible”
- Served on the Committee on Equal Opportunity (1979–80 catalog)
- Listed among faculty departing at the end of the 1979–80 academic year (May 1980 Spectator)
Related Sources
- spec-1979-02-23 — women in literature discussion with Nancy Rabinowitz
- spec-1979-10-19 — introduction of Tillie Olsen reading
- spec-1980-05-23 — listed among departing faculty
- yhm-arc-pub-cat-1978-79 — faculty listing and course catalog
- yhm-arc-pub-cat-1979-80 — faculty listing and course catalog